The electrospun nanofibers membranes (ENMs) have gained great attention due to their superior performance. However, the low mechanical strength of ENMs, such as the rigidity and low strength, limits their applications in many aspects which need adequate strength, such as water filtration. This work investigates the impact of electrospinning parameters on the properties of ENMs fabricated from polyacrylonitrile (PAN) solved in N, N-Dimethylformamide (DMF). The studied electrospinning parameters were polymer concentration, solution flow rate, collector rotating speed, and the distance between the needle and collector. The fabricated ENMs were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to understand the surface morphology and estimate the average fiber sizes. The membrane porosity percentage was measured using the dry-wet weight method. Also, a dynamic mechanical analyzer was used to determine the mechanical strength properties (tensile strength and Young's modulus) (DMA). The obtained results revealed that the polymer concentration and flow rate mainly affect the porosity and fiber size in ENMs. Increasing the polymer concentration improves the strength and flexibility, while the flow rate did not show a clear effect on the mechanical strength of ENMs. Both fibers collecting speed and spinning distance did not clearly impact the membrane morphology. ENMs flexibility significantly increased with increasing the collector speed and decreasing the spinning distance. Strong and flexible ENMs with small fibers can be fabricated using 10% PAN/DMF at a flow rate of 1 mL/h, collector speed of 140 rpm, and spinning distance of 13 cm.
The study aims to build a proposed training program for school leaders in the Sultanate of Oman on the planning practices of the Kaufman model in light of the needs and challenges of reality. It also aims to identify the challenges facing school leaders in practicing the stages of strategic planning. To achieve these objectives, the study adopted the descriptive approach due to its suitability to the nature of the study. A questionnaire was used to collect the needed data. The study sample included (225) individuals from school principals, their assistants and senior teachers in post-basic education in the Sultanate of Oman. After processing the data statistically, the study concluded that the reality of planning practices for school lea
... Show MoreComputer systems and networks are being used in almost every aspect of our daily life; as a result the security threats to computers and networks have also increased significantly. Traditionally, password-based user authentication is widely used to authenticate legitimate user in the current system0T but0T this method has many loop holes such as password sharing, shoulder surfing, brute force attack, dictionary attack, guessing, phishing and many more. The aim of this paper is to enhance the password authentication method by presenting a keystroke dynamics with back propagation neural network as a transparent layer of user authentication. Keystroke Dynamics is one of the famous and inexpensive behavioral biometric technologies, which identi
... Show MoreRecently, Image enhancement techniques can be represented as one of the most significant topics in the field of digital image processing. The basic problem in the enhancement method is how to remove noise or improve digital image details. In the current research a method for digital image de-noising and its detail sharpening/highlighted was proposed. The proposed approach uses fuzzy logic technique to process each pixel inside entire image, and then take the decision if it is noisy or need more processing for highlighting. This issue is performed by examining the degree of association with neighboring elements based on fuzzy algorithm. The proposed de-noising approach was evaluated by some standard images after corrupting them with impulse
... Show MoreThis work aims to develop a secure lightweight cipher algorithm for constrained devices. A secure communication among constrained devices is a critical issue during the data transmission from the client to the server devices. Lightweight cipher algorithms are defined as a secure solution for constrained devices that require low computational functions and small memory. In contrast, most lightweight algorithms suffer from the trade-off between complexity and speed in order to produce robust cipher algorithm. The PRESENT cipher has been successfully experimented on as a lightweight cryptography algorithm, which transcends other ciphers in terms of its computational processing that required low complexity operations. The mathematical model of
... Show MoreThe aim of this work is to design an algorithm which combines between steganography andcryptography that can hide a text in an image in a way that prevents, as much as possible, anysuspicion of the hidden textThe proposed system depends upon preparing the image data for the next step (DCT Quantization)through steganographic process and using two levels of security: the RSA algorithm and the digitalsignature, then storing the image in a JPEG format. In this case, the secret message will be looked asplaintext with digital signature while the cover is a coloured image. Then, the results of the algorithmare submitted to many criteria in order to be evaluated that prove the sufficiency of the algorithm andits activity. Thus, the proposed algorit
... Show MoreInformation security is a crucial factor when communicating sensitive information between two parties. Steganography is one of the most techniques used for this purpose. This paper aims to enhance the capacity and robustness of hiding information by compressing image data to a small size while maintaining high quality so that the secret information remains invisible and only the sender and recipient can recognize the transmission. Three techniques are employed to conceal color and gray images, the Wavelet Color Process Technique (WCPT), Wavelet Gray Process Technique (WGPT), and Hybrid Gray Process Technique (HGPT). A comparison between the first and second techniques according to quality metrics, Root-Mean-Square Error (RMSE), Compression-
... Show MoreHigh frequency (HF) communications have an important role in long distances wireless communications. This frequency band is more important than VHF and UHF, as HF frequencies can cut longer distance with a single hopping. It has a low operation cost because it offers over-the-horizon communications without repeaters, therefore it can be used as a backup for satellite communications in emergency conditions. One of the main problems in HF communications is the prediction of the propagation direction and the frequency of optimum transmission (FOT) that must be used at a certain time. This paper introduces a new technique based on Oblique Ionosonde Station (OIS) to overcome this problem with a low cost and an easier way. This technique uses the
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